Video: Philippines and Japan Conduct Anti-Ship Missile Sinking Corvette
Among the concluding serials of Exercise Balikatan, the Philippines and Japan jointly conducted a live ground-launched anti-ship missile test off the northwest coast of Luzon Island, the northernmost island of the Philippines. After simulations and ranging shots fired by the U.S. Marine Corps’ 12th Marine Littoral Regiment Naval Strike Missile and by MLRS, the Philippine Navy conducted a simulated strike using its SSM-700K C-Star sea-skimming surface-to-surface anti-ship cruise missile. Then a Japanese coastal defense battery fired two Type 88 anti-ship missiles from the area of Paoy at the decommissioned corvette BRP Quezon (PS-70), which succeeded in sinking the vessel before the Philippine Air Force FA-50PH and A-29B Super Tucano light attack aircraft were able to fire their munitions at the target.
Rounding off the intensive first participation by Japanese forces in the annual US-Philippines Exercise Balikatan, the Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi confirmed that Japan was willing to transfer six Abukuma Class multi-role frigates nearing the end of their operational life to the Philippines. Japan was also willing to transfer an additional five retired Beechcraft TC-90 aircraft, for use in a surveillance role, to supplement five that were transferred in 2018. Both transfers were to be at no cost, although such transfers of decommissioned equipment traditionally save the donor disposal costs, but burden the recipient with the cost of bringing the obsolescent equipment back into operational service. The Philippines may not accept all the proposed transfers, depending on surveys done on the equipment to assess the costs of repairs and refurbishment.
Three of the Abukuma Class multi-role frigates up for transfer to the Philippines (JMSDF)
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The flurry of Japanese defense outreach to the Philippines is grounded in Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s new National Defense Strategy, which, while expanding and reorganizing the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, also seeks to build up the strength of allies who stand between Japan and China.
Predictably, the Chinese government was not pleased by the development, with Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun warning that the Philippines was “playing with fire,” and that “what the Asia-Pacific region most needs is peace and tranquility, and least needs is the introduction of external forces to create division and confrontation.” Besides the Japanese and U.S. participation, Australia fielded 400 troops for Exercise Balikatan, and Canada, France, and New Zealand participated for the first time.
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